Arena Profile: Rep. Pete Hoekstra

As one of the few former Fortune 500 business executives in Congress, Congressman Pete Hoekstra brings a unique blend of experience and perspective as he represents Michigan’s Second Congressional District in Washington.

Pete was originally sworn in to the 103rd Congress in 1993. He then served a key role in the development of the Contract with America, which was instrumental in gaining a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.

In 2004, Pete was named Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Now serving as the top Republican, he works to lead Congressional oversight on issues relating to the U.S. Intelligence Community as the United States defends itself against all threats.

Pete is also a senior member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, where he is working to return control of education policy back to parents, educators and administrators as opposed to Washington bureaucrats.

Pete is a member of several task forces and caucuses, including the Immigration Reform Caucus, the House Republican Task Force on Historically Black College and Universities, the Congressional Prayer Caucus, the Congressional Coast Guard Caucus, the Values Action Team, the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, the House Republican Study Committee, the Bipartisan Congressional Bike Caucus, the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus, and he is the founding chairman of the Education Freedom Caucus and the Congressional Caucus on the Netherlands.

He also has written pieces published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Times, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, among many others.

For his work in Congress, Pete has received numerous awards, including repeatedly earning the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "Spirit of Enterprise" award, the "Hero of the Taxpayer" award from Americans for Tax Reform, the "Taxpayer Superhero" Award from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, "Public Official of the Year" Award from Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, and the "Faith, Family and Freedom" and "True Blue" awards from the Family Research Council. He has also been recognized by the National Association of Manufacturers.

Pete is a graduate of Holland Christian Schools, holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hope College in Holland and holds a master’s of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

Prior to his election to Congress, he worked for 15 years at Zeeland, Mich.-based office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller Inc., where he held the title of Vice President of Marketing.

Pete lives in Holland, Michigan, with his wife, Diane, and has three children, Erin, Allison, and Bryan.

He was born on Oct. 30, 1953, in Groningen, the Netherlands, and immigrated to Michigan with his family at the age of 3, making him one of the few members of Congress who was not born in the United States.

(Photo by AP)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra's Recent Discussions

Obama's victory lap for auto bailout?

(Interview with POLITICO's Gloria Park)

Two weeks ago, President Obama came into my home district [and] he trash-talked me because I’m the leading candidate for governor. And today he’s coming in because the primary is on Tuesday and [Democratic Rep.] Carolyn Kilpatrick is in the race of her political life, and he’s going to use this to promote her candidacy. He says he’s doing these trips for this or that, but what he’s really doing is either try to damage one campaign or help another campaign. Why else would a president go into the same state two times in two weeks? It makes no sense.

[And] the president is picking winners and losers [on electric vehicles]. There are all kinds of competing technologies out there to increase fuel efficiency and improve performance … Yes, let’s have the government create an environment for competitive solutions to work their way through the marketplace, but the government is getting overly involved in managing our economy.

More POLITICO Arena

About the Arena

The Arena is a cross-party, cross-discipline forum for intelligent and lively conversation about political and policy issues. Contributors have been selected by POLITICO staff and editors. David Mark, Arena's moderator, is a Senior Editor at POLITICO. Each morning, POLITICO sends a question based on that day's news to all contributors.